I know that even for someone who openly admits to loving the presidents, and also for having a unique interest in President Lyndon Johnson, that making a LBJ tank top might be at the very edge of what’s considered socially acceptable behavior.
Sometimes, however, there are things that you want and those things just aren’t readily available. It is in those moments that you have to decide who you are what you’re going to do. You can take matters into your own hands, or you can exist in a longing you refuse to master.
So, one day when I was lamenting the dearth of cute president-themed casual wear, I decided that I could make my own.
I made a stencil by Photoshopping a photo of President Johnson and then printing that onto a piece of freezer paper. Then I used a craft knife to cut out the dark parts of the image.
The next step was to iron the stencil onto the t-shirt. I could have done a better job with this by trying the shirt on first and figuring out exactly where on my body I wanted LBJ’s face to appear, but I didn’t. I took the lazy way out and eyeballed it.
The next thing that I needed to do was to actually paint the shirt. I used paint that was especially intended for use on fabric. One thing, here, is that you have to put something inside of the shirt so that you don’t wind up having a the-paint-soaked-through-because-I-can’t-anticipate-what’s-going-to-happen moment. I used aluminum foil.
Then you wait. I waited over 24 hours to peel the freezer paper from the tank top. Yes, peeling the freezer paper from the shirt was as satisfying as you think it was.
In the end, I wish that I had placed the stencil closer to the top of the neckline of the shirt, but that’s what I get for eyeballing it. Overall, I’m happy with the results and I would use this technique again.